I actually did not know this 
. I’ve seen enough references to the Canes colors and NC State, that I thought it was a conscious effort.
I’m a UNC guy all the way. But I don’t have a problem with Raleigh adopting the red and white color scheme for a city flag… if for no other purpose than it is easier to mesh with branding the NC State and Hurricanes stuff around the city.
Nobody is suggesting that Raleigh buy TV ads telling tourists in Japan to come visit the Brickyard.
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You’re forgiven!
More coastal warning flag facts for your afternoon reading pleasure and entertainment.
https://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/cwd.htm
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(As someone with lots of Japanese relatives, though, I honestly would not mind this one bit…)
I’ve always wondered this, as a current student affiliated with State… NC State only ever seems to be brought up to Raleigh when it’s convenient (read: serving as an amenity for investors), but it never felt integrated the same way UNC/Chapel Hill and Duke/Durham are.
If this site is also an indicator for anything, Peace, St. Augustine, Meredith, Campbell, Shaw etc. seem to be closer to Raleigh than State -not only physically, but by its cultural or historical presence. (NC State, the sports team, may have a solid presence, but it seems harder to argue the same thing for the university?)
If GoTriangle and the Research Triangle Park’s branding efforts suggest anything, green was never closely associated with Raleigh/Wake County outside of the eyes of government officials, anyways.
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I think y’all are underestimating the importance of State to the city and its culture. For along time, the jobs in state government and the state university drove Raleigh’s economy. Nearly every person on my block growing up worked or had retired from one or the other. State’s research program were, are and will be essential to our economic growth. And perhaps the most interesting effect of the University for this group is the architectural legacy of the Design School. We certainly aren’t a classic college town - like Chapel Hill, or Durham once its entire industrial core collapsed - and you don’t want to over play the presences of all the universities and colleges in Raleigh. But the synergy of the same colors for the city, biggest U and pro teams is very nice.
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For what it’s worth, according to the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, NCSU employs over 9,000 people, which makes it one of the largest employers in the city. I don’t think we can underestimate it’s importance to the city.
And even though we may have other colleges and universities in the city to engage with, I don’t think there’s any reason why Raleigh shouldn’t identify itself with NCSU in the same way that Chapel Hill does to UNC and Durham does to Duke (or even NCCU).
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Not to mention the economic impact of NC State has on the state. From a 2015 economic impact report.
A 2015 economic impact study found that NC State startups have generated $1.2 billion in added income for the North Carolina economy. That’s a remarkable 86 percent of the total $1.4 billion generated by startups across all 17 campuses of the University of North Carolina system.
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Ashley Christensen just won the James Beard Award for outstanding chef in the US.
This was posted in another thread, but I think it deserves mention here as well as it is obviously great for Raleigh’s brand and food scene.
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(She’s also an NC State grad)
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Here’s her acceptance speech in which she specifically thanks “the tremendous community that is Raleigh, North Carolina” (around 4:00 mark):
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Oh snap! Great going Ashley!
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that’s fantastic!! and a very nice feather in Sqr Raleigh’s cap!! It made a big big difference for Birmingham when Frank Stitt won his Beard Award. Suddenly it became cool to go downtown, and not scary. While B’ham is more like Durham than Raleigh, there are always those lingering fears out in the sub and ex urbs about traveling into “the city”.
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So, if we marry Ashley’s Badasses with The Jerks, we get Badass Jerks.
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An article on Ashley Christensen winning ‘nation’s top outstanding chef’ as others have reported here.
Ashley Christensen Restaurants group invigorated what had been an uninspiring Raleigh restaurant scene that trailed the more innovative kitchens in Durham and Chapel Hill.
Raleigh a foodie capital… quite the turnaround.
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You need to put Sqr Walter Raleigh on a t-shirt. I bet you could get Deco or Nofo to sell them.
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From that poll I made a while ago, it seemed like our two top choices about how we see Raleigh is as:
- a nature-filled, Southern-with-a-capital-S (but not that racist) city
- friendly, smart, down-to-earth innovators (as per @Loup20 in this post)
I found a blog post from the Triangle’s transit equivalent of a chamber of commerce coming up with an interesting idea that seems like a compromise between these two views.
What do you think? Would you use “the R&D cities of North Carolina” in conversation or in a presentation?
http://letsgetmoving.org/rta-blog/lets-combine-raleigh-and-durham-into-the-rd-cities-of-north-carolina/
(note: this is the same link as the one I shared here, though in a different context)
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I wonder if we could get away with the broader “R&D cities of the south”. I don’t know of any southern cities that are as heavily research-based as the Triangle, though that could be my own ignorance.
We have greater biotech R&D spend than Atlanta despite our much smaller population (https://www.genengnews.com/a-lists/top-10-u-s-biopharma-clusters-5/), as well as having the third-highest percentage of workforce being tech workers in the US, much higher than anywhere else in the south (Where America's High Tech Cities Are (and Will Be) - Bloomberg)
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Durham would probably have an inferiority complex and insist on calling it D&R cities of NC.
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I think Raleigh is an underrated city. I think Atlanta is Overatted. I think one of the most underrated cities is Portland OR, which really should get more recognition than it does. It really comes down to advertising. I mean when is the last time you heard of Buffaloe or Portland Or Raleigh compared to Atlanta?
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100% agree that Raleigh needs to step it up on the branding/advertising. Most people that come to “visit” Raleigh are really just coming here for work, one big event that’s happening, or looking for a home. We’re not really known as a “visiting just to visit” tourism town, but could totally be if marketed right.
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